William H. Widen Archives - Page 2 of 2 - JURIST - Commentary

Commentaries by William H. Widen

Representative John Lewis Is Going Home

July 18, 2020 04:02:00 pm

I learned with sadness, but not surprise, that Rep. John Lewis lost his battle with pancreatic cancer yesterday. Congressman John Lewis lived courage. Courage takes the path less traveled. Others will write the details. I want to share with you one perspective. John Lewis was savagely beaten—his skull fractured—on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, [...]

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28 countries unite against Axis Powers

On January 2, 1942, twenty-eight countries formally agreed not to make peace with the Axis Powers separately. At the time, all twenty-eight were fighting against the Axis as Allies in World War II. The agreement was part of the Declaration by the United Nations, signed the previous day. In December of 1941, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt referred to this group of allies as the "United Nations."

US government agents arrested thousands in Palmer raids

On January 2, 1920, over 500 government agents acting on the direction of US Attorney General Mitchell Palmer carried out a massive counter-terror operation in 33 US cities, arresting between six and ten thousand aliens suspected of Communism, radicalism and anarchism. The "Palmer Raids" and the detentions and deportation proceedings that followed them were denounced by a number of prominent lawyers and judges who later established the American Civil Liberties Union. Read an excerpt from Attorney General Palmer's 1920 article, The Case Against the 'Reds' and learn more about the Palmer Raids and the Red Scare of 1919-20.